Whoopi Goldberg & Caroline Rhea to Host Fire Island Dance Fest

The Fire Island Dance Festival returns to Fire Island Pines for a trio of outdoor party/performances on Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20, 2008. Now in its 14th year, FIDF is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA), a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Performing outdoors against a backdrop of the Great South Bay, FIDF 14 will feature an eclectic program of classical and contemporary ballet, modern dance, tap and hip hop performed by eleven emerging and world renowned dance companies.  World premiere dances will be presented by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Atlanta Ballet,  Ballet Hispanico, Jermaine Browne, Parsons Dance, Jason Samuels Smith and Tony AwardŇ choreographer Jerry Mitchell for Rasta Thomas' Bad Boys of Dance as well as repertory pieces from Jacoby & Pronk, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Jennifer Muller / The Works, and Ellis Wood Dance.

Saturday's emcee is Whoopi Goldberg, host of this year's Tony AwardsŇ, moderator of ABC TV's "The View," and – as producer, actress, singer, writer and comedienne – one of the few individuals to have won all four of the major show business awards: the Oscar, the Tony, the Emmy, and the Grammy.   Sunday's emcee is comedy club favorite Caroline Rhea original host of TV's "The Biggest Loser". An accomplished actress, Rhea has had featured roles in both film ('The Perfect Man," "Man on the Moon") and television ("Sabrina, The Teenage Witch," Lifetime's "Fat Like Me").

Dancegoers are offered a choice of show times. The opening performance is on Saturday, July 19 at 5:00 p.m. (party at 4:00 p.m.). The sunset performance is on Saturday, July 19 at 7:00 p.m. (party following). And the closing performance is on Sunday, July 20 at 5:00 p.m. (party following). Leadership Sponsors are included in the special kick-off celebration on Friday evening July 18h at Whyte Hall, the Fire Island Pines Community Center.

To charge tickets by phone, call 212.840.0770 x268 – Monday through Friday, and on weekends at the Pines harbor or order online at www.dradance.org

Corporate Sponsors for Fire Island Dance Festival 13 include: The New York Times, Continental Airlines, GRW Advertising, NEXT Magazine, PEEQ, EMR Systems, BV Vineyards, Movmnt, and Passport Magazine

Community Sponsors for Fire Island Dance Festival 13 include: Fire Island News, Fire Island Pines Property Owners' Association, John Joseph Designs, Pines Pantry, Pines Pizza and Martini Bar, Sayville Ferry Service, and Tony's Barge.          

Twice hailed by Sunday Styles of The New York Times as "One of the 12 best parties of the year," the Fire Island Dance Festival has since 1995 raised over $1 million in the fight against AIDS.  

DANCERS RESPONDING TO AIDS

The ongoing, committed response of the American dance community to an urgent worldwide health crisis, DRA is a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), the nation's leading industry-based AIDS funding and grant-making organization.  By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the dance community, DRA raises funds for AIDS-related service providers across the United States. Funds are distributed to seven programs of the Actors' Fund of America and as grants to over 500 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide. Since its founding in 1988, BC/EFA has distributed over $140 million for critically needed services for people with AIDS, HIV, or HIV-related illnesses.